CBS Sports releases Big 12 head coach rankings ahead of 2023 college football season

The upcoming 2023 season has a chance to be one of the more special years in the history of the Big 12. It is certainly unique, since the conference will have a combination of teams they’ve never had before and won’t have again. They just added four new teams, yet still have a couple set to leave next offseason.

So for just one year, the conference sits at 14 teams, which means there were 14 head coaches for the folks at CBS Sports to rank as part of their annual college football coach ratings. This year’s list is vastly different than last year’s and will likely deviate again by the time the actual season gets going.

But for now, take a look at how CBS Sports views the current head football coaches of the Big 12.

1. Sonny Dykes | TCU

Dykes enjoyed a monumental boost in these rankings since last year, leaping from 11th ten spots up to first place. But that’s the result when you take a program like TCU to the national title game in year one of your tenure.

Some folks may prefer to see a more established name at the power five level or at least someone who has banked more than one year of good results. And it very may well be the case that Dykes peaked in year one and won’t match that success again any time soon. However, given what transpired in less than a year of him as a power conference head coach, you simply have to reward him with the No. 1 spot.

2. Chris Klieman | Kansas State

Like Dykes, Klieman is coming off a name-making season for himself, having handed TCU its only loss of the season to date when KSU beat the Horned Frogs in the Big 12 championship game. Logically, the two coaches who participated in that contest wound up 1-2 on this list.

For Klieman, it’s an honor after a consistent four-year start to his career. The 2020 season was wacky for everyone and especially power conference teams who were forced to play only conference opponents for a whole season, so you can almost throw that one out. But otherwise, it’s been 8-5, 8-5, and then 10-4 in 2022. Consistent and successful.

3. Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State

Gundy tied for his worst season at OSU since the aughts in 2022, but that shouldn’t diminish what’s largely been an immensely successful 18-year career with the Cowboys. In the three prior seasons, Gundy led Oklahoma State to above-.500 conference records and a finish in the final CFP top 25 each year.

Just last year, he place first in these same rankings by finishing 12-2 with a Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame and a top-10 finish in the final CFP ratings. Oklahoma State is easily one of the more reliably solid programs in the conference, and they’re due for an upswing this coming season.

4. Lance Leipold | Kansas

Leipold is 8-17 as Kansas’ head coach and 4-14 in Big 12 play through two years on the job. He doesn’t have close to same amount of success or win totals as pretty much any other coach on this list. So how does he wind up in the top five?

Well, because while everyone else is racing on flat ground, he’s running straight up a hill comparatively. It’s tougher to win football games at Kansas than just about any other power conference program. You have every conceivable disadvantage. Yet, Leipold had that town believing in its football team last year while winning three times as many league games as any other Kansas team since 2008.

5. Dave Aranda | Baylor

After besting Oklahoma State in the 2021 Big 12 title game in just his second year with the program, Aranda landed at No. 2 behind Gundy on last summer’s edition of this poll. A year makes a lot of difference, though, as Aranda authored the second below-.500 season of his three-year tenure last fall and massively disappointed expectations after being picked to win the conference.

With solid seasons from TCU and Kansas State, plus a turnaround of sorts from Kansas, Aranda is now down to fifth. It’s fair and he’ll need to prove he still belongs amongst the top tier in this new Big 12 in 2023.

For the rest of the rankings, go ahead and look below:

CBS Sports Big 12 coach rankings 6-14

6. Gus Malzahn | UCF

7. Matt Campbell | Iowa State

8. Steve Sarkisian | Texas

9. Kalani Sitake | BYU

10. Joey McGuire | Texas Tech

11. Dana Holgorson | Houston

12. Brent Venables | Oklahoma

13. Scott Satterfield | Cincinnati

14. Neal Brown | West Virginia

Recap

The Big 12 is such a fluid league from year to year (and now more than ever with the latest wave of conference realignment) that it doesn’t have a definitive top tier of coaches with consistently great programs, like the SEC or Big Ten does. Instead, with Lincoln Riley out, there’s a new top dog in the league year in and year out, with no one man or program able to conquer it in consecutive seasons.

Maybe that man will be Sonny Dykes or Chris Klieman. Maybe Dave Aranda gets Baylor back on top or Mike Gundy finds away to reclaim the crown. Perhaps Steve Sarkisian or Brent Venables strike oil with their historic powerhouses and win the conference before fleeing it next summer. The point is: it’s our most unpredictable power conference league and any one of these coaches could be taking the top spot come next July.

We oughta be in for a heck of a football season in Big 12 country.